The Twin Dovahkiin
by BlueWolfiez
Summary: Masser and Secunda align over Tamriel, and two twins are born. But not without power. (Tamriel's surface area, and city size has been drastically increased as well as population.)
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Howling screams of excruciating pain filled the night's air. The sky was lit up with a breathtakingly

stunning view of the universe of Mundus. Both of Nirn's moons, Secunda and Masser, were visible from the small village of Riverwood. Soon, on this very night, Masser and Secunda would align, with Masser completely blocking out the brilliance of Secunda. Stars, Nebulas and the two moons were the treasure view of the universe. However, the citizen's of Riverwood could not stop to admire the view of the brilliant night's sky.

Vraelath, a young Bosmer, whom migrated to Skyrim from Valenwood, had started giving birth early in the morn. A town's healer had believed that she would give birth to twin's. It had been a long, hard birth, it always had been with twin's.

"Come on,Vraelath, I can see the first baby's head! Just keep pushing!" The town's elder, Vaelma, who happened to be Vraelath's mother, encouraged.

Another scream filled the air as Vraelath gave another final push, managing to birth her first-born.

"It's a male." Vaelma's assisstant confirmed, and visible relief spread across Vraelath's face.

"Where's the sire?" Vaelma questioned, looking for the farther of the child.

He stepped forward. His name was Dralof, a Nord from Whiterun. It was unusual for such a relationship to occur, a Bosmer and a Nord, but after the Oblivion Crisis, almost anything was deemed normal.

Vaelma's assistant handed Dralof his son, and as soon as he had his child in his arms, his face lit up with a father's love.

Another howl of pain split the relief that spread across the room.

"The second one is coming! Make some room!" Vaelma shouted to the crowd in the room, which consisted mainly of the families, but also some close friend's of the couple's. The crowd made a little space, but they could only move so much without being forced out of the room.

Elsewhere, in the night's sky, Masser had almost completely covered Secunda. The alignment was about to take place, and ,magic would spread across all of Tamriel.

"Here's the head! Keep pushing!" Vaelma once again encouraged, anxious to get the baby out for both the mother and the child's sake.

Another howl.

"It's here! It's here." Vaelma said frantically, relieved that it would finally be over.

"It's a beautiful girl." She confirmed, handing the baby over to the mother.

Dralof and Vraelath were together, on the bed, sharing a beautiful moment. It was rare that such an occasion should occur; the moons align as twin's were born. The parents were locked in a trance, disbelief that they had birthed twin's, and finally feeling a love stronger than most in all of Mundus and Oblivion, the love only parents could have.

However, this was not to last. Vraelath's strength was flailing. She was slowly losing all her strength, barely able to keep consciousness.

"Vraelath, what's wrong?" Vaelma asked, managing to direct the room's attention to the mother, who lay still in the bed, with her baby girl in her arm's.

"Vraelath dear, wake up." Vaelma smacked her cheek. She tried shaking her awake, but to no avail.

Vaelma put her ear to Vraelath's chest. She tried to listen for a heartbeat, a sign that her daughter was still there.

"Oh Stendarr." Vaelma whispered, tears flooding her eyes and breaking free to roll down her cheek. A dreaded silence filled the room. Dralof fell to his knees, clutching to his son, cry's of anguish trying to escape his mouth.

Vaelma tried to use a spell, a Restoration class spell, _Healing Hand's,_ as the Arcane University in the Imperial City had better named it. The golden light of the spell filled the room, and the noise of the spell passed through the room with a beautiful sound. The spell had no effect, and Vraelath was just getting paler and paler, colder and colder.

Vaelma attempted another spell, _Heal Other, _as was named by the University. It was another Restoration class spell, a lot stronger than healing hands. As the light and noise once again filled the room, it was apparent that it had no effect.

One last attempt by Vaelma. This time it was a Conjuration class spell, _Dread Thrall,_ one of the strongest spells of it's class. The light filled the air, but the sound wasn't there.

It was too late.

Vraelath, of Woodhearth, was gone.


	2. Another Day, Another Septim

**Another Day another Septim**

-Draco

I wondered through the streets of Markarth, taking in all the breathtaking Dwemer beauty. We had moved hear when my twin, Vela, and I were only three years old. Our father, Dralof, could no longer stand living in riverwood, especially after our mother died after Vela was born. He had only just managed to save enough money to move here, but he did so in a heartbeat. I only just remember when we got a carriage over here. It was too dangerous to go by foot; rumors of migrating Giants and Mammoths spread around all of Skyrim quickly. The journey took a long two days, be we got there with no casualties. We were lucky, according to the guards of Markarth. The Forsworn had been troubling The Reach latley. It's been troubling times for everyone.

But that was a further seven years ago.

As I wondered through the maze-like streets of Markarth, I intook the atmosphere around me. I let the gentle breeze of Sun's Height brush through me medium length brown hair. Today was the day of Merchants' Festival, the 10th of Suns Height. Stools were littered all over the Dwarven streets; The sweet smell of food filled the air, people were cheery and chatty.

I stopped in front of the Tavern, were my twin, Vela, helped the bartenders there to earn a few extra Septims to help out with our father's earn. Personally, I helped out with the smithy, taking to the art of creating weapons, swords in particular. With my farther now working as a guard in Markarth's Understone Keep, we earned enough to live comfortably.

I entered the Tavern, named the 'Silver-Blood Inn'. The air was heavy with the smell of ale. The atmosphere was cheery as ever, people were dancing, bards were playing there ballad's, and there was most probably a brawl or two going on somewhere. I walked over to Frabbi, the owner of this Inn.

"Hello Frabbi. Is Vela here?" I asked her politley, remembering my manners, as my mother would have wanted.

"Why hello, Draco. I sent Vela on a break. She's worked hard today." She informed me, smiling as she did so.

"Thank-you." I bid her goodbye, and set out to find Vela. When we are on our breaks, we usually meet by the Guard's tower, were there is a breathtaking view of Markarth and some of the lands beyond.

As I arrived there, I spotted Vela sat on the top floor of the tower. Her long brown hair was flowing in the wind. She was eating some bread.

"Boo!" I shouted as I crept uo on her, startiling her as she fell backwards.

"You idiot!" She shouted as she got back up. "What if I had fallen forwards?"

"You would be dead." I stated.

"Exactly. That's not very nice, is it?" She asked me angrily, as she clipped me behind my ear.

"Ow!"

"You deserve that, moron."

My ears twitched at this. My twin and I were obviously half-bread. We both had elven ears, which attracted a lot of attention from the rest of the Nords. Vela inherited the stature of an elf, but the face structure of a Nord. I was the opposite, with a well-built muscular Nordic body, with a very elvish looking face. My eyes weren't to slanted though, so my sister and I did bare some resemblance.

"You're such an idiot." She stated, returning to her previous position on the wall and continuing her meal.

"No I'm not."I tried to argue back.

"Yes, you are. Remeber what father said?"

Of course I remember. She always used it in arguments.

"Arkay didn't give you a brain, he gave you a twin sister." We both said in unison. We shared a chuckle, and I sat down next to her. We may argue all the time, but we were twin's after all, we still loved each other.

A few minutes later, we both returned to our jobs. The smithy of Markarth, Ghorza gra-Bagol, a short tempered Orc, was in the middle of crafting a fresh pair of armour, supposedly for a guard who get into a bit of a mishap with one of the travelling merchants. It didn't end well for either of them, with the guard getting sent to a healer and the merchant getting locked up, with similar injuries.

"Help me make a new sword for the guard boy." Ghorza grunted.

I set off to work immediatley, gathering all the things necessary for the job at hand. A few minutes later, I finished with a near-perfect blade.

"You did good work today, boy. Take two extra septim and get home. You can never be too wary about the streets of this city at night." I thanked her as I set off, returning to out home, named Vlindrel hall.

As I made my way back, I noticed that there were still festivities going on in the Inn. I waited outside for Vela, who came out after a minute or so.

"Ugh, it's so dark!" She complained, before mischieviously looking around.

"_Candlelight."_ She whispered, using a weak, but effective Alteration class spell, which immediately conjured a small ball of light that would hover above our heads on our journey home. I oftened envied her ability to use magics other than a simple Healing spell (Restoration class) or a Shock (Destruction class). I was often relieved when we had a play-fight; she was weak and needed to rely on healing herself.

We made our way home, aided by Vela's _Candlelight._ We made small-talk on the way back, telling stories of how our day went.

"Frabbi and Kleppr had another argument today. Those two are always arguing. I'm pretty sure that at one point Frabbi threw a dagger at Kleppr." I raised my eyebrows when I heard this. Those two were always going at each other. One time, when Vela, father and I were having I drink in there, Frabbi casted _Fear _on Kleppr, a Illusion class spell that did exactly as was named. It took a healer to cast _Calm_ on Kleppr, another Illusion class spell that did that would reverse the effects of _Fear_, or send the person or animal into a tranquil state, depending on the situation.

"Were you hurt?"

"No, but I wager five septims that Kleppr needs another _Calm_ spell cast upon him." She giggled at the end of the sentence, showing amusmant at the married couples arguments.

We arrived at our home just after that. I could hear something moving inside. Then a clatter. It was probably father dropping yet another chest. He was always moving them about, it's like he was cursed to do so.

I opened the door and yelled, "We're home.", before we were met by a strange sight.

A thief, dressed in all black, was staring back at us, with a massive bag of septims at hand.

After a brief period of about thirty seconds, the thief made a dash for us.

I was left defensless, as I had no sword. However, I wasn't afraid. As if on cue, a bolt of lightning flew past my head, and hit the oncoming thief in the chest. They fell to the floor, knocked out by my sister's _Lightning bolt, _a damaging Destruction class spell.

I walked over to the thief, as Vela went out to alert the guards. I grabbed the bag of septims out of his hand, and placed it back where they belonged. As I did this, my father and a fellow guard, named Aelfin, who was oddly a Bosmer, rushed in, only to be met by the thief, who was still on the ground.

"Well, atleast you two are safe." He said with relief, brushing a strand of his blonde hair out of his face, as Aelfin bound the thief.

"Will you be okay taken this dirty thief on your own?" My father asked Aelfin.

"Of course. He will be out cold for a few more minutes. Your daughter is a deadly magician-in-training, clearly." He winked at my sister, who blushed. My sister was best-friends with his daughter, so they know each other well.

Aelfin left, and Vela made her way to our bedroom, were she promptly began undressing, to get ready for bed.

"How was your day?" My father asked, who was taking off all of his guard's armour.

"It was okay. I made a near-perfect sword today. That earned me a few extra septims. But you'll want to hear about Vela's day, there were a few bawls and Frabbi threw _another_ dagger at Kleppr today." My dad raised his eyebrow at this, a trait I inherited from him.

I entered our bedroom, and began undressing for bed aswell. Once I finished, I bid father and Vela good night, and fell asleep almost as soon as my head was on the pillow.


	3. Hi fen alok, zeiniin-dovahkiin

-Vela

I woke up as soon as the blinding light hit my eyes. I forever curse these damned 'curtains', they were always being chewed on by some king of bug. Just my luck.

I grabbed a small hand mirror that rested on the side of my bed. It was my mother's, since she was but a child. It had been her mother's as well, and even my grandmother's mother.

I looked in the mirror, and, like every other day, saw a horrendous tangle of hair, either sticking out in all directions or tangled in great bushes.

I looked over to where my tattered, old brush was. It's all the way on the other side of the room. _But that's so far away!_

As I was prepared to get up, a thought crossed my mind.

"_Telekinesis." _I whispered, laughing at how easy everything was made by magic. I directed my mind onto my brush, and simply _willed _it in my direction.

Soon enough, the brush was in my hand as I was trying to tame my ever-wild hair. I, on occasion, swore, in an elven tongue known only to my brother and I (just in this city), when I tried to go over a particularly knotty area.

Within a few minutes, I had my hair looking somewhat presentable, which, in my case, still looked like I had only just woken up.

I made my way out of my room, when I bumped into Draco along the hallway. I unceremoniously bounced of off his muscle (an odd amount for ten years), and fell to the floor.

"Watch it." He grumbled, offering a helping hand, which I gladly took. He had a face like thunder, which quickly changed to a smirk as he looked down at my hair.

"You look more like a witch every day."He smiled, and made his way to the dining area.

"If your not careful, I'll get my familiar to eat you alive!"I shouted, following after him.

"Do you even know what your familiar is?" He scoffed, taking a bite out of a sweetroll.

"No, but I'm hoping it's a bear, you'll be food for sure." I smirked as I took a sweetroll and made my way back to my room.

A few minutes later, I was off to the Silver-Blood inn, mentally preparing myself for a days work. That almost never worked, however.

The first half of the day went quickly. There were a few brawls, three people passed out, and Frabbi threw yet another knife.

After my first break, things got a tad bit interesting.

I was collecting up a few of the tankard's people left on the table- dirty beggars – and was on my way to the counter when a particularly noisy customer decided to take a brawl further.

He had drew his sword, and he was trying to kill the Orisimer that he was brawling.

He dealt a particularly harsh blow to the Orc, and as the steel from the sword left the green body, a glass-shatteringly beautiful flash of crimson blood flew out of the Orc as he fell to the floor, a river of flowing crimson escaping the dam that was his body.

I paid no attention to the detail though. As this particular thug went to deal a finishing blow, I quickly whispered _Lightning bolt, _not having enough time to think of a better spell.

I directed the resulting bolt at the thug, who's blade was just inches away from the Orc. I aimed at his head, hoping to knock him out.

The thug raised his sword, swinging it in an arc-like motion, going straight over his head, as if to slice the Orc in half.

Just as the sword was level with his nose, my bolt hit the sword.

The two collided with a terribly beautiful explosion of blue. The bolt seemed to have parted into hundreds of mini-bolts, the brilliance of their blue illuminating the entire room in it's beauty. As the mini-bolts made contact with the floor or the wall, it left behind tiny soot marks, as if scorched by a fire. As for the sword, its silver shine had, for the most part, been replaced with a scorching red, outlined by a brilliant orange. The sword was heated so much, that the sword simply snapped in mid air, colliding with the floor with an audible clatter. The hilt of the sword was still tightly wrapped in the thug's hand, as if a babe clinging to it's mother.

The thug looked over at me, with an expressionless face. He stopped to examine me, the remains of his sword tossed aside.

"That was my best blade." He stated simply, showing no grief despite his loss. He pulled out a dagger, similar to his steel sword but with a blood-red hilt and an odd jewel of the same colour imbued in the handle.

As he advanced towards me, I prepared my next spell, a new spell developed by the University called _Glyph._ It was a difficult alteration spell, made for changing the direction of a certain object or being that made contact with it. There were several variations of this particular spell; the _Symphis_, or _Move Caster_, designed to move the caster in the direction of their choice, be it up, to the side or down; the _Malphis_, or _Move Other_, a spell designed to move a person of the caster's choice in any direction, but that person must be willing; the _Calphiris_, or _Trap Enemy, _a glyph that you set on the ground, much like a rune, but it remains invisible until a hostile walks into it, where it traps them in a thin barrier mid-air; and the _Obsterixis,_ or _Move Enemy, _much like the _Symphis,_ but forces a hostile in a direction.

Each of these glyphs have a certain colour to each of them. White for _Symphis_, Red for _Malphis_, Blue for _Calphiris_ and Purple for _Obsterixis._

I had used the _Calphris _on this occasion, imbuing the now invisible glyph on the ground. I readied myself as the thug was almost upon me, attempting to dodge his blade and make him fall into the trap.

Just as he was swinging the blade to try to cut me, I dodged out of the way and stepped backwards, making him stumble onto the glyph.

As soon as he did this, the once invisible glyph lit up with a brilliant light blue. Its shine illuminated the room, just like my lightning bolt from earlier. As soon as it lit up, the thug was suspended mid-air, held up by an invisible barrier.

His eyes lit up with recognition, as if he had experienced this before. He looked over to me, his expression still remaining blank.

"How can one so young know such advanced magic?" He asked me, not struggling against the barrier that held him up.

As soon as he had said this, I thought back to the time Draco and I had discovered the old library hidden underneath the guard's tower.

_-__**Three years Earlier**_

-Vela

"Come on Draco! I want to see what's inside!" I shouted at my brother as I ran around in circles, not being able to control my excitement at out new found discovery.

Draco and I were adventuring around Markarth when we noticed a tiny concealed door hidden by the Guard's Tower. We were only just able to fit in, Draco had more trouble getting in than me.

The door contained a library of some sorts, a small but cosy room filled with at least twenty bookshelves. These bookshelves were quite high, and held a lot of books on them.

As my brother and I walked around in fascination, I noticed that a lot of these books were extremely dusty. These must have been here since Markarth was founded, and maybe even before the Snow Elves were destroyed by the Atmorans.

I stopped as soon as I noticed a few books out of character. These books were all lined up neatly, unlike most other books, and had little to no dust on them, as if these had only just been set here.

I grabbed the lamp my brother held, one we took down here just in case there was no light. I put the lamp down next to the books, and examined the cover of a particular book that caught my eye.

It was called _"The Incarnate of Magicka"_. It had an odd looking symbol on it, it looked to be a mix of the Imperial flag, with the symbol of The Mage's Guild. I opened the book to look inside, and was shocked to see that it was in near-perfect condition.

I began reading it. It explained how magic first came into Mundus, and how mortals were able to harness its power. I paid no interest or attention to this part, and skipped ahead to something more interesting; How to use Magic.

It was filled with a vast amount of spells. Incantations. Even Alchemy. I was looking around the spells, as I always had been able to control Magic from a young age.

I noticed a particularly interesting spell, namingly the _Glyphs_. I was looking through them. They were exceptional! Being able to move people, or animals, with just one word!

"_Symphis!"_ I shouted, deciding to try out one of the spells.

As soon as I uttered the incantation, I felt a tremendous amount of energy leaving my body. The floor was lighting up white with a mysterious glyph, expanding all the way to the walls of the room.

"What have you-" Draco was cut off as a maleficent blast of magic sky-rocketed us in the air.

We reached the top of the room, where Draco had bashed his head with a resonating _smack._ As the magical energy left the room, we began to fall towards the floor, slower than our travel up here.

Only now had I noticed how big the room was. The bookshelves that were once towering over us now seem like the books that they contain; small and dark.

As we were falling with an ever greater speed, layers of décor flying past us, I noticed that Draco was unconscious. Now panic really set in. I didn't know what we could do. The floor was almost upon us, and I did the only thing that I could think of.

"_Malphis!"_

A red glyph, exactly like the one from earlier, appeared in front of Draco and I, imbued on the floor.

Just before we were only a hair's breadth away from our death, the red glyphs started glowing and were were suspended in mid-air.

As I breathed a sigh of relief, I accidentally deactivated the spell, and we fell the remaining distance to the ground. Seeing as it was only a hair's breadth, the only damage was a slight stinging sensation on my nose.

I crawled over to Draco, who managed to fall onto his back. A quick _Healing Hands_ and he was conscious again.

"Whatever that was, don't do it again." He said in a weak, croaky voice as he sat up, slightly dizzy from the blow to his head.

I walked over to the book I had read earlier, and picked it up to stow beneath my clothes.

I would read this later...

-_**Present time**_

-Vela

I had plenty of time since that day to study the book in a much greater detail. Not only were there spells in there, but techniques on how to use spells of a greater complexity at an earlier stage, strengthening spells that you can already use, and even some lost spells from the Third Era, and in contrast spells that had been discovered only recently, like the _Glyphs_. It said that there were a total of three other books about the secrets of magic, but no information on where to find them.

I noticed a certain change of energy in the room as the glyph I had cast earlier dispelled itself and set the thug free.

_Ice Spike!_ I exclaimed in the depths of my mind, and summoned a ball of ice in both my hands. I threw them, as if to through the ball itself, but the changed mid-air into the blade-like ice spike it was named after.

The thug had managed to dodge both of them, and swung the blade at my neck. I ducked just in time, and I jumped back a soon as I could, trying to make some space before his next attack.

He was already running at me by the time I landed. With only one thought on my mind, I set my thoughts on the table right beside me.

_Telekinesis!_

The table in question had flew at the thug, clattering into him and sending him across the room.

As I recovered from the spell – it's tiring to move an entire table with your mind, after all -, I noticed that the thug was already on his feet, but something had changed about him.

The cowl that he was wearing on his head was now tattered and torn, revealing his face.

Or rather,_ his lack of face._

He had no eyes. He had no nose. He had no mouth. His ears were pointy, like an elf's. His hair was jet black. On his face was war paint, in the particular design of a red skull.

He shrieked once he realised what had happened, and bolted for the door. Just before he could leave, he turned back,and, with a smirk _somehow_ appearing on his face.

"**Hi fen alok, zeiniin-dovahkiin, wah transcend Kriis Hrothgar." **

And with that, he made off into the streets of Markarth.


	4. Forsworn Mass

Forsworn Mass

Three days later, I was still shell-shocked at my battle with the faceless bandit. I couldn't get the words, the imagery, the scenery out of my head. It's been lodged their ever since, and even trying to work it off wasn't helping.

I hadn't told anyone of what occurred, and nor did any of the witnesses. I imagine that the witnesses had a hard time trying to forget his face as well.

I was sitting at the top of the guard's tower, looking at the bleak surroundings of Markarth. There seemed to be a massive storm gathering to the west, where I was looking, and it looked bigger and angrier than any other I have seen – or can remember. If the storm really was a big as it looked, it would be bad for the trade in Markarth. It could last a day, or it could last a week. The torrential rain wouldn't flood the populated area inside Markarth's walls, due to the way it's built, but it would still be dangerous to walk the roads – inside or outside of the walls. Most shops would have to close down, and, if it does get disastrous, most people, including my family, would have to take shelter inside Understone Keep.

I let out a sigh as I made my way back to the Tavern, to resume my job and earn my pay. People always wondered why Draco and I had worked at 'such a young age'. If they knew the situation we were in since birth, I'm sure they would keep an open mind about it.

Today was just like any other day, aside from the gruelling images in my mind. Not only was his lack of face traumatising, but it as the first time I had attacked someone to kill. Not once when I was training in magic and using my rapier (which I almost never take out of the house, because if I'm in danger in Markarth, my magic will surely be enough.) sparring with my mentor Aeliea.

I finished my shift and got back home. With it being the middle of autumn, it was already pitch black pretty early. A few torches lit up the main roads in Markarth, giving just enough light for me to pick my way through the obstacles to get back to my house.

As I got into my home, I was greeted by two boisterous "HELLO"'s, obviously giving off the fact that they're in a good mood.

"What gives you high hopes?" I asked Draco and Father, taking off my boots and chucking them aside, before taking off my cloak that I wore to ward off the cold that has seeped into Markarth the past week.

"Our Mentors have returned!" Draco stated, eating a sweetroll.

"When will we start training again?" I asked farther, grabbing three sweetrolls and a bowl of lukewarm rabbit stew for myself.

"Tomorrow. You needed more practice with your rapier. Speaking of it, are you going to name it?" He asked me, finishing his fifth sweetroll.

"I might. I haven't been needing it at all, unless the forsworn decide to mass against Markarth." I explained. As soon as I said this, however, the room had suddenly lost all of it's cheerfulness and was replaced by a heavy tension.

"What is it?" I asked, somewhat confused by the sudden change of mood.

"A few of the Markarth scouts and nearby farms have reported the Forsworn massing to the North East of Markarth." Draco said, immediately casting me into a tense mood.

"How many, and how long?" I asked, feeling a slight river of energy ebb through my arm.

"Well, they estimated that they would take up to two months to arrive at Markarth, giving us Markarth enough time to prepare for a siege twice." A slight wave of relief coursed through my body.

"But, that's not all. Our scouts have estimated that there are over fifty-thousand forsworn soldiers."

I felt the energy course through my hand in an even stronger way than before, flaring up a _Fireball_ spell that I didn't intend to release, or even conjure.

My father eyed my hand warily, whereas my brother was calm about it. I had two other outbursts like this before, one similar to this and one that started a small wild-pyre in the forests in Markarth's mountains. No one but my brother knows that I was the one who started that, but the Markarth guards blamed it on the death of a flame Atronarch.

"I know that Markarth will only be able to muster twenty thousand trained men, and they'll be fighting outside the city and on the walls. Your Mentors returned to specially tuition you. The Jarl has decide the you, Vela, will best serve your talents helping any wounded and serving around the city. You, Draco, will help with the defence of the nearest windmill, the closest building to the city that has a strategic use." He informed us, afterwards allowing us a few minutes to let the news wash over us.

"What about you?" I asked father.

"I will either be fighting for the nearby mines or out on the field in between the mines and the windmill Draco will be at."

"Why are they letting people so young fight?" I asked, not worried for me but worried for some of the other people our age that live in Markarth.

"It's only you too. The elf blood you gained from your mother ages you faster, you are stronger, wiser, and more capable than most people just becoming of age." I could swear on the Divines that I could see a glimmer of pride flash in his eyes, but that might have been family love.

I was humbled by what he said, but the slight panic at the situation he had presented us with still resided inside me.

"But be calm, we have two whole months to prepare. That's time enough." He said, before retiring to his bed for the night.

Draco and I followed suit, giving each other our soft night-time wishes before retiring ourselves.

As I lay in bed, I couldn't help but think of that faceless bandit, and the situation the forsworn have presented us with.


	5. Mentors Ailiea and Railiea

Mentors Ailiea and Railiea

-Draco

"That's a fine piece of armour, Draco." The local smith praised me, looking over the Steel Armour I had just made.

We've had to make a lot of armour and swords lately, in preparation for the upcoming war with the Forsworn army. Word has it that the Forsworn have made a temporary camp just north of a local farm. I'm sure that the local Fletcher hasn't had an easy time, either.

It's been two days since our Mentors, Ailiea and Railiea returned to Markarth from a 'business' trip to the East Empire Trading company. Vela and I were meant to restart our training. I was still fairly practised with my sword, but Vela was lacking with her rapier, because she had been focusing a lot on magic lately.

Just as I was reluctantly make yet another sword, a courier got to our stall.

"Sir Draco, the Jarl wants to see you at once!" They said hurriedly, before disappearing back into the city.

"You'd better go Draco. You shouldn't keep the Jarl waiting for too long."

I set aside the raw materials I was about to use, and headed towards the Understone Keep. As I walk past Silver-Blood Inn, Vela stepped out, causing us to collide into each other and for both of us to fall to the ground.

"Watch where you're going!" Vela shouted at me angrily as she stood up from the ground.

Brushing her outburst aside, I asked her "Were you summoned by the Jarl as well?".

"Yes, I have." She said, brushing some slight dust off of her breaches before setting of towards the keep.

"Why do you think he sent for us personally?" Vela asked me, slight concern in her voice.

"I'm not sure," I replied "but it's probably about either our mentors returning or our positions in the siege."

"Or both!" Vela pointed out, hopping over a puddle of – whatever that was.

"Why do the call it 'Understone Keep' if its partially up a mountain?" Vela asked me.

"I'm not sure, but it's probably to do with the Nchuand-Zel ruins." I replied, starting to climb the stairs that led to the doors of the keep.

"Probably." She muttered, also beginning to climb the staircase.

As we reached the stairs, one of the Markarth guards pushed the humongous doors open for us. Hardly something that needed to be done, because I was strong enough to do it for both Vela and I.

As we stepped through the doors, I took in the site around me.

I hadn't been to Understone keep since I was six, which was eight years ago. I had almost forgotten the beautiful gold of the Dwemer decorations that was placed beautifully around the keep. It was a lot lighter than I remembered, probably due to the noticeable change in the amount of torches placed strategically around the keep. As I began to climb up the stairs that led to were the Jarl ruled over the Reach and its citizens, I wearily eyed the Dwarven Spheres that seemed to stand guard over the keep. They looked like the could just spring to life at any moment and slice me in half at any moment. A terrifying thought.

As I approached Jarl Igmund, I noticed that father was there, as well as our mentors, Ailiea and Railiea.

Ailiea, a female High Elf hailing from solitude was my mentor. She was as good as any seasoned male warrior, but most probably better.

Railiea, Vela's teacher, was also a female High Elf hailing from Whiterun. She was a dangerous magician as well as magic user, much like Vela.

"Jarl." Both Vela and I acknowledged his presence before he stood up to greet us as well.

"Draco! Vela! It's been a while!" Jarl Igmund replied to us jovially. "One year is one to many."

I never understood the reason father, Ailiea and Railiea had such a close connection to the Jarl. I never questioned it (until now) because I had grown up knowing this.

"We are here to discuss your tutoring before the anticipated war." Jarl Igmund said as he sat down, trying to get comfortable on his seat. Vela and I followed suit, sitting down on two of the chairs that were situated at a table – a new addition to the keep.

"We need to train you as per usual, and also to fit your roles in the battle."Ailiea said in her heavy Altmerian accent.

"We also need to adjust your working times at the Inn and the Forge to fit in this training." Railiea said in her slightly faded Altmerian accent.

"I've talked it over with their bosses, and both of them were reluctant but ready to give them this spare time off." Father stated, taking a sip of Ale from a goblet on the table.

"Now, obviously, Vela, I have assigned you to work within the city distributing resources and supplies back and forth from the keep and various locations. This job should be safe, unless the walls are breached, which hopefully wont happen. But you Draco, are tasked with a more dangerous position. You were tasked with the defense of the nearest windmill, about a minutes walk from here. It should be safe, if our armies do manage to defend the mines and all areas beyond successfully. Neither of you have to help in these positions, but if not you will have to help defend the women and children in this keep, if anything extremely bad happens." Jarl Igmund explained, taking a few sips of ale in between.

"I fully accept my position." Vela said, brushing aside some hair that was in her face.

"I do too." I also said, feeling the weight of my position two months from now bearing down on me.

"Good." Jarl Igmund replied, reclining into his seat whilst quaffing the rest of his ale.

"Your training starts tomorrow. Oh, and, could you please pass me some more ale on your way out?"


End file.
